Whispers of Things Past…

Vintage...

The word evokes visions of brass warmed by gorgeous patina, well-worn chairs and lasting quality.  Though there may not be a hard and fast definition to what is and what is not, the romantic in me sings it’s delight when considering objects with an aura of history – that have stood the test of time, or have reinvented themselves, and that add warmth and life to a space full of sparkling, spanking new.  I had a glamorous great-aunt who’s life, jewelry, and furnishings whispered in hushed tones about things I will never have the thrill of experiencing.  Those whispers fill my senses and make each piece feel rich with history.

And with the surge of media celebrating times past, we are seeing more and more interest in furniture and accessories from unexpectedly mixed eras.  From Mad Men and Pan Am to the Tudors, and everything in between, eclectic furnishings are in demand.  Go ahead and jump in with a special piece that whispers to you… These are a few of my current obsessions.

What do you think?  A flame-stitched mid-century chair, perfect with a martini after work? Yes, please!  These vintage bar glasses? Fabulous. They offer a nod to a time when cocktails were glamorous.  And when did boring become the norm, anyway?  Why shouldn’t every day feel just a little special?  I want these to be my everyday water, cocktail and everything else glasses.  And then there are all the vintage smoking accessories…  Now, I know nobody smokes in their houses anymore (thank God!), but vintage ashtrays and matchstick holders are so gorgeous that they scream for a second life.  I love to use them for jewelry and desk accessories.  They have such sexy sculptural appeal.  What are your favorite vintage finds?  Check out the slide show for a taste of the vintage beauties currently living at Slate, or, come in and try on a past life… Whatever whispers its secrets in your ear.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When Art Finds You…

“Pretty in Pink” 24×24 Original Oil on Canvas

“Yellow” 30×30 Original Oil on Canvas

“Alex on Stool” 18×24 Original Oil on Canvas

“White Tulips” 30×30 Original Oil on Canvas

I have developed a neurotic obsession with art.  Blame the day job, but I am surrounded on all sides by incredible original art that often moves as quickly as it comes in.  You know that moment when you look at a piece of art and the thought of walking away from it feels as though you are leaving a child behind?  You simply must own it.  Lovelies, I don’t know if you are aware how lucky we are to live in an area where original art abounds.  Great art.  And great art by wonderful people.  I am blessed to know so many of them; it makes owning the pieces even that much sweeter.  One of these such gems is Sharon Hockfield, the featured artist here at Slate for the month of June.

Sharon, a career-long teacher with CMS,  is a Charlotte native who has always had a love of art, even while attending East Meck, but  it wasn’t until she began working with an artist on her daughter’s wedding invitations that she thought to actively pursue it.  She recently completed an artist-in-residence training with Andy Braitman, and her resulting work is lush and thick with paint.  She likes to work from life - figures and florals, which is a natural progression of another passion of hers – landscape design.    Come in and check out all the gorgeous and varied works by this lovely lady.  And don’t be surprised when you get attached…

Juxtapose! There’s nothing to it.

You have a defined style, you know what you like.  Why, oh why, then, can’t you get it to feel right?  Forgive the cliché, lovelies, but too much of a good thing…  In design (and just about everything else), we all know that while too much sweetness is cloying, too much masculinity can be cold, just as too many neutrals can feel monotone but overwhelming color feels like a circus. Do you find yourself drawn to the same elements over and over?  Marinate on this: One element in the absence of  its opposite may feel incomplete, but the whisper of its opposite magnifies itself. ( I theorize this is why kettle corn may be the world’s most addictive snack, as illustrated by my recent trip to the mountains.  But I digress… )  So if you are plagued by a Groundhog’s Day sense of safe and similar, what to do? Throw a wrench in it!  Highlight all the things you already love by peppering in a tiny hint of its counterpart.  You like clean lines and crisp finishes?  Drape a sumptuous throw over your sofa.  You have a room full of dark wood? Lighten up with a white-painted chest.  Lots of solids?  A kiss of pattern will banish the boring. Shall we begin?

Look your space and take stock.  What themes are repeated?  Is it all hard lines and crisp finishes?  Or perhaps you are a creature of comfort and many of your surfaces are rounded, soft and cozy.  Look at the colors in your space.  Are they cool or warm? Lots of color or all neutrals?  What words describe your aesthetic?  Super glam or casual?  Dark or light?  Preppy or romantic? Relaxing or energizing, etc?  Assign shapes to the elements in your space. What shape is most often repeated?  Look at the lighting, furniture, art and accessories, and take some notes.

Next step: Analyze.  Determine your comfort zone by what you see a lot of and your fears by what you don’t.  Perhaps you have a space filled with rounded shapes, comfy chairs, pillows and throws, lots of neutrals.  What are you missing?  You want it to feel comfy and relaxing but not boring!  Here’s the trick.  Your space is craving a tiny touch of the elements you run from.  It should be 90/10.  You need a few hard edges, some reflective surfaces (maybe a touch of sparkle?), a few shakes of bold color, and Voila!  Treat it like a spice.  Just a touch will wake up the flavor.  Perhaps a mirrored tray, a sleek accent chair, and a bold geometric pattern.  Take a color you love and introduce it around the room in small doses to add excitement and energy.  One, two, three, done.

Conversely, for all you hard-edge modernists out there wanting expansive breathing room, but living in sterility, your space is aching for the softness of a curving line or two, a touch of texture, and some organic shape to warm it up.  A few luxurious pillows, a touch of warm wood or fresh flowers, and an unexpected vintage accessory will replace the echos with exhales and coldness with an invitation to live  life within your walls.  Check out the driftwood lamp, the abstract flower painting, and the antique elephant garden stool.  Fresh flowers that never die add energy, and the organic shapes of the coral pillow and vessel are dynamite for breaking up the defined lines of a, ultra-contemporary space.

Overall the key is this:  take a risk.  Try something you normally wouldn’t.  A few opposites make a room feel just right.  Keep your modern or traditional, but juxtaposing just a few elements enhances the style you already have.  Don’t take my word for it – try it!  Come into Slate with a few pictures and we’ll help you find exceptional elements to carry it to the next level.  And because you can try nearly anything in the store on approval, there is no excuse to let your room sit stagnant!

April Featured Artist – Susannah Raine Haddad

Our featured artist this month is Susannah Raine-Haddad. Here she tells us a little about herself:

ZouZou was my grandmother, who had a basement full of all kinds of stuff. After she passed away and her house was being cleaned out, I took a whole bunch of flower pots from her basement, after my mother begged me (I resisted the several hundred aluminum pie plates). I painted a few, gave a few, sold a few, then sold a few more. Then I moved on to other art projects. And ZouZou’s Basement was born.

I actually work in my attic, and like ZouZou, I save lots of goodies, sometimes not knowing exactly how I will use them.  Each day I go to work and am surrounded by paint, glitter, ribbon, and my “paper pond”. Professionally, I’ve worked in advertising, dressed store windows and mannequins, and taught art to high schoolers for 8 years. I presently teach private lessons to children and adults, and am Artist In Residence at Westminster Canterbury Richmond (Gables/Monticello/Parsons) . I am lucky enough to be able to devote myself fully to my creative ideas and to making my two little boys good  people.

The animal collages have fermented slowly. I painted various dog portraits for several years. Gradually, my paper projects have become meshed with my paintings so that a large part of my work is a collage of paper and paint. I saw a book called The Zoo by Suzy Lee with brightly and whimsically colored animals on grey backgrounds, and I played around with the idea. Then I went to my pile of animal photos that I’d been collecting, and also tore up my sons’ Ranger Rick magazines (with their permission). When you really look at the crazy variety of animals that are walking around on earth, it’s mind-boggling. I can’t help but feel a spirituality when I see a giraffe, or a zebra, or a peacock! And interestingly, most people relate to animals, and most have a favorite.

Whatever my subject matter, color is always my first decision. Then I decide which animal would look best, with for instance, purple fur. I hope you will enjoy a good dose of color, and have a giggle or two.

Local Wear, Local Flair

The Fiesty Side of Charlotte's History...exclusively at Slate!

So maybe you weren’t born in Charlotte.  (Who was?)  Or perhaps you are that elusive native I keep hearing of.  Nevertheless, Charlotte is your home, your center, your family, and your resting place.  You are a Charlottean at heart.  When people visit, they find it alluring.  Charlotte has a rich history, and it is palpable.

That is why Shannon Schultz, a Charlotte-based designer and merchant with us here at Slate, has been hard at work researching, designing and fabricating these Charlotte Heritage shirts, which are 100% locally made.  And we mean local.   From the shirts themselves to the screen printing, abvDESIGNS debuts The Original Charlotte Heritage Tee, produced in your beloved Queen City. 

The Original Charlotte Heritage Tee

Ages before the QC was “The QC”, it was nicknamed “The Hornet’s Nest.”  A little history lesson reveals that when, during the Revolutionary War, British General Cornwallis occupied the city of Charlotte, he was driven out by hostile residents, prompting him to write that it was “a hornet’s nest of rebellion,” leading to the nickname The Hornet’s Nest.  (Now why does that sound familiar???)  Charlotte has been important in our country’s political past, and with the Democratic National Convention coming to town, it just might be time we looked back, remembered, (or learned about it!) and were proud.

Available exclusively at Slate Interiors, these Tee’s sell for only $24!  Welcome to The Hornet’s Nest!!!

Puppy Lovin’ Urban Style

“Dogs have no pretense, just an innate desire to please, and a lack of self-awareness that makes them beautiful.”

Five Buck Chuck 22x28 Oil on Canvas

For all of you dog lovers, we have a special treat in the works for you. We’ve all seen dog portraits, good and bad, and loved or hated them, but this is something else altogether.  We’re honored to introduce you to Heather LaHaise, a fine artist whose work has been featured in the New York Post, The State Newspaper, Modern Dog, and HGTV as well as several other publications and notable blogs such as Dog Art Today and Design Milk.  Heather treats dog as muse, evoking dignity in “the underdog,” often capturing the essence of rescue pups, senior dogs and strays in ways that elevate puppy love into high-fashion amor.

When you cast your eyes on her dogs, you instinctively feel the spirit of the animal; the sweet-tempered loyalty, the high-spirited adoration, or the curious adventurer.   Not only that, but the dogs feel like part of something bigger.  Something insatiably swank, haute couture, impressing upon you a love of urban landscapes and gorgeous textures.  This is fine art, darlings.  You have never seen anything like it.

She balances abstractionism with realism in her portraits with graphic use of space and expressive layering of paint.  Planes of uneven color, gestural marks and calculated drips mark her style, often with dogs as the focus of the finished piece.   And, while the dogs may give her a voice, she strives to transcend the singular category of “dog art” and continues to work toward contemporary ideas, including a collection of abstract works, collectively showing at Slate beginning March 1st.

So come in this Friday, March 2nd, enjoy our later hours with a beer or glass of prosecco, and organic delights provided by Thomas Martin Catering.  And don’t forget to bring Fido, Fluffy or Butch.  We love your pups.  And as always, treats provided for them too!

To see more pictures, Like us on Facebook.

Love at First Sight – Parker Kennedy Living

A gorgeous table full of delicious accoutrements

 

Parker Kennedy Living.  The response has been incredible.  People  have  actually rescheduled work trips to be here when they bring in new inventory!  Who are these design geniuses, you ask?  Let me introduce you to them, dear friends.  Meet founders and business partners David Ecton and Lance Jackson of Parker Kennedy Living - they will change your life… or, perhaps just your living room, but either way, you’ll be in true love in no time.

 

 

Only developed as recently as early 2011, Parker Kennedy Living has gone full force with their own design group, an Atlanta store front, furniture product development, as well as being permanent antique dealers at Atlanta’s famous Scott’s Antique Market.  Their company has been wildly successful, and we are thrilled to welcome them to the Slate family. 

Self-described as “preppy on the edge,”  they strive for a modern approach to traditional design. Finding those unique items that have a story, and seeing their clients fall in love is what it is all about for them, and their pieces have been selling almost before they can be merchandised.  (We even had a not-altogether-undisguised little war between a couple of Charlotte’s best designers  over a set of 4 vintage lucite chairs that sold the first day they moved in !)

Great Mid-Century Upholstered Chair

What EVERY girl needs! Fabulous Christian Louboutin book rests atop a Lilly Pulitzer shoe ottoman.

Two words: Lust List

Don’t you just want to move in? Sigh…

Foo Dog Lamps, an out-of-this-world Sunburst Mirror and Gorgeous Original Art.

A Sculptural Quartz worthy of She-ra! Remember her?

I want it all…

Head over heels for this book. Literally!

 

 While Lance has been a professional designer for over 15 years, sits on the Atlanta Advisory Board Council of the Savannah College of Art and Design, and is involved with IIDA and NEWH Atlanta, David holds an MBA in International Trade, and together this team is making heads turn with their design aesthetic: fresh, clean, classic lines, transitional and fun… preppy on the edge!

 

Come in and check them out.  You’ll fall head over Louboutins too.